Cigarette Smoking Statistics

In 2006, an estimated 26.2 million men (23.5 percent) and 20.9 million women (18.1 percent) are smokers in the United States. These people are at higher risk of heart attack and stroke. The latest estimates for persons age 18 and older show...*

• Among whites, 23.5 percent of men and 18.8 percent of women smoke.
• Among blacks, 26.1 percent of men and 18.5 percent of women smoke.
• Among Hispanics, 20.1 percent of men and 10.1 percent of women smoke.
• Among non-HIspanic Asians, 16.8 percent of men and 4.6 percent of women smoke.
• Among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 35.6 percent of men and 29.0 percent of women smoke.

* National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 2006, National Center for Health Statistics

I’ve never done a personal Hub before now, so upon reaching the milestone of my 100^th Hub, it seems appropriate. I’m dedicating this Hub to the memory of my father, a life-long smoker. I watched him struggle for the last twenty years of his life with emphysema. He could not shake the hold of cigarettes. Even through his very last days, he’d remove his oxygen mask and step outside to smoke several cigarettes a day.

June is a very tough month for me. It signifies three things: Father’s Day, my Father’s birthday and the anniversary of his death.

The last time I spoke with him was Sunday, June 22, 2003. I awoke him from a nap. The call was very short, he said “I’m just not feeling good.” I instantly got a funny feeling and said “I’ll see you this weekend, I love you.” We lived 145 miles apart and my plans were to visit him Friday. I didn’t get the chance, he died on Wednesday. That photo was taken on my wedding day.

The Traditional Cigarette

The smoke from a traditional cigarette smoke emits over 4,000 chemicals when lit, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins.

A Few of the Ingredients that Goes into the Making of Cigarettes:

• Acetone - ingredient in nail polish remover
  
• Methanol - used as rocket fuel
• Naphthylamine - a carcinogenic
• Pyrene - a carcinogenic
• Naphthalene - moth repellent
• Cadmium - used in batteries, a carcinogenic
• Carbon monoxide - poisonous gas
  
• Vinyl Chloride - used in plastic materials
• Cyanhydric acid - was used in gas chambers
• Ammonia - detergent
• Arsenic - lethal poison
• Dibenzacridine - a carcinogenic
• Polonium 210 - a radioactive element
• DDT - insecticide
• Formaldehyde - used as an embalming fluid

Electronic Cigarette

It is an electronic device consisting of a battery and a heating element. When activated, the heating element boils a small amount of liquid in the device, creating a vapor, which is then inhaled by the user. The experience of inhaling the vapor closely mimics the experience of inhaling smoke from a regular cigarette.

The liquid and vapor contain three main ingredients: nicotine, propylene glycol, and flavoring.

These three ingredients are also found in regular cigarettes and are known not to be carcinogenic, and are approved by the FDA.

Links of Interest

• The FDA has begun halting shipment of electronic cigarettes into the United States: http://www.fda.gov/ora/oasis/4/ora_oasis_i_66.htm
• The e-cigarette company Smoking Everywhere filed suit against the FDA on April 29th because they claim that they are illegally blocking their products from entering the United States: The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times : FDA Sued Over Electronic Cigarette Embargo.
• Petition to keep electronic cigarettes available: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keep-life-saving-electronic-cigarettes-available.
• Follow the Electronic Cigarette Association on Twitter.

Quotes

"This is about as idiotic and irrational an approach as I have ever seen in my 22 years in tobacco control and public health. A public policy maker who touts himself as being a champion of the public’s health as well as some of the leading national health advocacy organizations is demanding that we ban what is clearly a much safer cigarette than those on the market, but that we allow, protect, approve and institutionalize the really toxic ones.” --Michael Siegel, a physician, researcher and professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, in response to **Senator Frank Lautenburg’s letter to the FDA suggesting the ban of electronic cigarettes.

“We have every reason to believe the hazard posed by electronic cigarettes would be much lower than 1% of that posed by (tobacco) cigarettes. The testing guidelines in the current tobacco act (circulating through Congress) would represent a ban on electronic cigarettes, (yet) if we get all tobacco smokers to switch from regular cigarettes (to electronic cigarettes), we would eventually reduce the US death toll from more than 400,000 a year to less than 4,000, maybe as low as 400.” --Joel Niztkin, MD, MPH, DPA, FACPM, Chair, Tobacco Control Task Force, American Association of Public Health Physicians

“The vast majority of the harm caused by smoking is from the method of nicotine delivery rather than from the nicotine itself. There would be a parallel problem if people got caffeine from smoking tea leaves rather than making an infusion of these leaves in hot water. It is clear to far-sighted researchers that there are huge gains to be made from dealing with the delivery system.” --David Sweanor, BA, JD, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa

Read more quotes here.

**It has been said that Senator Frank Lautenburg has received over $100,000 from pharmaceutical lobbyists that manufacture and sell nicotine gum and patches...read more about that here. Is the money worth the trade-off Senator?

What's Wrong with this Picture?

The Health and Life Insurance-Industry may be only one of the supporters behind the banning of electronic cigarettes. And not for the reason you may think!

You may, or may not be surprised to learn that Prudential, Prudential Financial, MassMutual, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, Standard Life, and Sun Life all invest billions of dollars in Tobacco-Industry stocks—even after requests have been made by numerous health organizations for them to divest...read more about that here.

There are no blurred lines of what is right and what is wrong in this instance. These companies' unethical practices are a reflection of their corporate greed. Clearly, profits are placed above "the right thing to do" in this situation.

Final Thoughts...

It is important for me to say that I'm not advocating smoking. I am advocating a choice for people who do.

The prevention by the FDA from some of these products entering the United States is irresponsible and the controversy surrounding it looms.

Whether it is "Big Tobacco," the pharmaceutical companies that market nicotine patches and gum, or any other special interest group (including the insurance-industry that invests billions of dollars in tobacco stock), that is trying to get these devices banned — It is my opinion (and apparently the opinion of many medical professionals), that e-cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, vaporizers or whatever you want to call them are the lessor of the two evils.

Common sense tells me that arguments against electronic cigarettes; comparably, are against my better judgement and are an insult to my intelligence.